Death sentences anger Australia

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An Indonesian court decision to sentence four young Australians
to death for heroin smuggling, overturning their earlier jail
terms, has sparked an angry political reaction in Australia.

"Judicial murder is what the Indonesian authorities have in mind
here. It is a repugnant and barbaric practice," Green Senator Bob
Brown said in Canberra.

Prime Minister John Howard has said he would seek clemency for
the four sentenced to death on Wednesday after they lost appeals
against lengthy jail terms.

"I don't think people should entertain too many optimistic
thoughts because it's difficult, but we will try hard and we will
put the case against the death penalty," Howard said on Wednesday
night after news of the death sentences reached Australia.

A total of six Australians, part of the so-called "Bali Nine",
are now on death row on the resort island after trying to take more
than 8.2 kg (18 lb) of heroin from Bali into Australia.

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A group of Australian politicians, members of human rights group
Amnesty International, said they would protest to the Indonesian
government at the latest death sentences.

"We should not sit back and say this is their laws and they can
do what they want," said government MP Bruce Baird.

"It's our young people that they are condemning to death and
that is totally unacceptable," Baird told reporters.

"It's time that there is a recognition by Indonesia that we are
a firm friend of theirs but we don't expect our young people to
receive the death penalty."

Australia's sensitive relationship with its giant northern
neighbour has only just recovered from a deep rift open up when
Canberra granted asylum in March to a group of boatpeople from
Indonesia's restive eastern Papua province.

Justice Minister Chris Ellison said bilateral ties would weather
any storm over the death sentences. "It is a very strong
relationship. I think certainly it will remain so," he said.

News of the death sentences sparked comparisons with how Jakarta
has dealt with those convicted of involvement in the 2002 Bali
bombings, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Brown said the death sentences showed a double standard in the
Indonesian legal system, with Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir
serving only 26 months for conspiracy in the Bali bombings.

"There's an incredible double standard in justice. It's
injustice, not justice," Brown told reporters. "To look at the way
the Bali bombers are being treated as against the Australians
charged with drug crimes shows a system that is unfair."

But not all the criticism of double standards was directed at
Indonesia, with calls for Australia to universally oppose the death
penalty, not just when it involved its citizens.

Howard has said he would not object to the death penalty for
Bali bombers. Three of these, Amrozi, Ali Gufron, and Imam Samudra,
are on death row and due to be executed this month.

"Diplomacy seems to be all that stands between most of the "Bali
Nine" and the firing squad. However, Australia's persuasiveness as
an advocate has been compromised by its weakness and inconsistency
as an opponent of capital punishment," said an editorial in the
Sydney Morning Herald.

"Australia must actively oppose capital punishment generally,
not just when Australians are involved."